I think that the catchy melodies are really the reason why Billy Joel is hated so much. The nausea of Billy Joel is not only experienced at the moment of the song, but it has an afterlife as the hooks and melody keep it in your head. I was riding my bike to school, and it was remarkable how much of 'piano man' was accessible to memory, especially for a song that I have never consciously listened to. Crappy 'indie' music rarely has that quality to it. It's generally forgettable, so, in that sense, much more forgivable. (working on the premise of a subject that hates both of them. if you like Billy Joel, I suspect that these very qualities that make it so hated, are precisely the ones that bring pleasure.) robert wood
> Ok. That's what I thought. BJ is trite. He has no wit or style, or even
> any personality. Obviously. But jesus, it's just pop music!
>
> Billy Joel is better than 90% of the indie crap my friends make me
> listen to. He comes up with harmonic progressions other people don't
> think of, then he puts them to catchy melodies. That already puts him
> several standard deviations above the mean. See, even Rosenbaum
> implicitly agrees:
>
>>
>> OK. But isn't there anything you like?
>>
>> Fair question. I've always liked "The Longest Time" and "An Innocent
>> Man." May I get back to the contemptible crap?
>
> SA
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>